History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 75

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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

powers. They may be called the arcana of the law, far too deep for the reach of common sense, distinc- tions so refined and subtile as to require to be seen through the microscope of mental vision.

In the carly courts the law was not so much settled as made by the most plausible and ingenious reasoner. At this day in our practice the pleadings are closer, the professional training more technical, and the bounds and limits of the law more definite and less varying.

These lawyers whom we have named were regular practitioners at the Westmoreland courts and be- longed to this bar. Each of them had a clientage here, they appeared regularly at the sittings of the court, and they were personally well acquainted with many of our people. But something shall now be said of those who were citizens of Westmoreland in every sense, who were here located and resident, who had their offices here, who had come to remain, and who were, strictly speaking, the bar of the county. And first as to the bench.

THE BENCH.

The judges learned in the law who have presided over the courts of Westmoreland since the adoption of the constitution of 1789-90, with their respective terms, have been as follows : Alexander Addison, from 1790 to 1803; Samuel Roberts, from 1808 to 1805; John Young, 1806-36; Thomas White, 1886-47; Jeremiah M. Burrell, 1847-48; John C. Knox, 1848- 50, J. M. Burrell, 1851-55; Joseph Buffington, 1855 -71; James A. Logan, 1871-79; and James A. Hun- ter, the present incumbent.

Of these, Judge Burrell, Judge Logan, and Judge Hunter were natives of the county, and were practi- tioners at this bar at the time of their elevation to the bench. Judge Young was a native of Scotland, but located in Westmoreland, and was a practitioner here when he was made judge.

JUDGE ADDISON.

Alexander Addison was a native of Ireland, born 1759. He was educated at Edinburgh, and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Aberlowe, Scotland. He emigrated to Pennsylvania, and on Dec. 20, 1785, applied to the Presbytery of Redstone to be taken under their care. 'The examination did not prove altogether satisfactory, but permission was granted him to preach in the bounds of the Presby- tery, application having been made from the town of Washington for the stated labors of Mr. Addison. Shortly after he gave up preaching and gave his at- tention to the law. He finally settled at Pittsburgh as a lawyer. He was president judge of the district which included the four western counties engaged in the Whiskey Insurrection, and sat on the bench for twelve years. He was removed by impeachment, through political rancor. He was an accomplished scholar and cultivated writer. He published " Obser-

vations on Gallatin's Speech," 1798; " Analysis of the Report of a Committee of the Virginia Assem- bly," 1800; "Pennsylvania Reports," 1800. Dr. Car- nahan says of him, " A more intelligent, learned, up- right, and fearless judge was not to be found in the State." His charge to the grand jury during the in- surrection is a noble monument of his talents and worth. He died Nov. 24, 1807.

OLD JUDICIAL FORMS, ETC.

The judges of the Supreme Court and of the Dis- trict Court in early times appeared in black gowns when they sat in the civil courts, but in scarlet gowns when they sat in the criminal court. The late Alex- ander Johnston, Faq., of Kingston House, used to say that when he wag sheriff of the county (1808) it was customary, and had been so before his incumbency, for the sheriff, at the head of the tipstaves, to go to the house at which the judge stopped, or the resi- dence where he lived, and on the opening day of the term escort him thence to the court-bouse. The sheriff, at the head of the procession, carried a white wand or rod.

The early judges were close observers of the old forms of the English procedure, and especially so in the forms of the criminal practice. The jurors were not provided with chairs till some time during Judge Young's term, but they were compelled to stand from the beginning to the end of a long, tedious trial. The only manner in which they could get relief from the weariness of a long-continued posture was for them, time about, to rest upon the shoulders of each other by bearing their weight on their hands.

Under the judicial system of 1790 two associate laymen composed a part of the bench. The old asso- ciate judges were sometimes men of some ability and aptitude in the law, although this character of the gentlemen was not the rule but the exception. They could and ordinarily did transact the occasional busi- ness of the courts in the absence of the president judge. Thus at February term, 1841, in the Common Pleas minutes for Monday, Feb. 15, 1841, is this entry : "The Hon. Thomas White, having just re- covered from an attack of smallpox, thought it not prudent to attend as president of our court on this week, and John Lobingier, Esq., one of his associates, being in attendance, and having received the fore- going intimation from Judge White by letter, took the bench, called the jurors, and adjourned till 10 o'clock to-morrow morning. Tuesday morning, 16th, Judge Pollock in attendance with Judge Lobingier. Grand jurors called, sworn, and charged by Judge Pollock, constables' returns made, etc., and proceeded to business in the Quarter Sessions."

These associates were sometimes called assistants; for instance, the record in 1793 says, " At a court held before Hon. Alexander Addison and his assistants."

Of Judge Samuel Roberts we know little. His term was short, and was not marked by any unusual

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yours Sincerely John Young

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event. He first presided at June term, 1803, the term beginning on the third Monday, the 20th day of the month, and presided for the last time at December term, 1805. For those terms, as well likewise at sub- sequent terms, jurors were drawn on the panel from Armstrong County, and from Indiana County, to sit and try causes which were tried here at Greensburg from their vicinage.

JUDGE JOHN YOUNG

was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the 12th of July, 1762. He was a member of an ancient Scottish family, distinguished for its wealth, learning, and high rank, branches of it having been ennobled before the reign of the unhappy Mary, Queen of Scots.

Mr. Young's father and grandfather were both sur- named John. He had three brothers, named Thomas, Douglass, and William, and one sister, named Mary. They were all liberally educated. The father of Judge Young was a wealthy merchant of Glasgow, and lived in a style becoming his station and wealth, and gained a reputation for great liberality.and kind- ness of heart, which qualities his son inherited in an eminent degree.

Through the generous impulses of a nature ever ready to serve his friends and relatives he became financially involved. He bailed his brother William for a large amount, for which debt his property was all sold, and he died in ten days after in consequence of the anxiety of mind which that event caused him.

At the time of his father's death Mr. Young was a student at law, and a clerk in the office of Sir Walter Scott's father. After he had procured places for his younger brothers, he emigrated to this country, and arrived in Philadelphia when about seventeen years of age, with, it is said, but one English shilling in his pocket. Here he attracted the notice and secured the favorable attention of Mr. Duponceau, then a notary public and sworn interpreter of foreign languages. He entered his office as a student-at-law on the 1st of January, 1784. On the 28th of January, 1785, Mr. Duponceau certifies that he derived great and valuable assistance from Mr. Young in his office, both in re- spect to legal matters and the French language.

Mr. Young afterwards entered the office of Judge Wilson, and studied law under him until his admis- sion to the bar, Jan. 8, 1786, after which he practiced for some time in the Philadelphia and Chester County courts previous to his removal to Westmoreland County.

The high character of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish settlements in the western part of the State and their great prosperity induced Judge Young in 1789 to settle in Westmoreland County. He opened an office in Greensburg, then recently made the county-seat, and soon gained a large practice in this and adjoining counties by reason of his ability as a lawyer and his absolute integrity of character.

His extensive practice frequently called Mr. Young to the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore. In Phil- adelphia his predilections for the teachings of Swe- denborg often brought him into association with Mr. Francis Bailey and his estimable family. In this family he became acquainted with a Miss Maria Bar- clay, an orphan girl, to whom he was so drawn by the attraction of congenial tastes that he ultimately made her his wife. He was past twenty-four and she was past twenty-one years of age when they were married in Philadelphia by the Rev. Nicholas Col- lin, then rector of the Swedish Churches in Pennsyl- vania, with whom he had become acquainted in his inquiries about Swedenborg, whom Mr. Collin had personally known in Sweden. From the certificate of Mr. Collin it appears that Mr. Young and Miss Bar- clay were "joined in the banns of holy wedlock" "on the 12th day of November, in the year of Christ 1794." With this lady he lived in the strongest bonds of mutual attachment for many years, having had by her the issue of eight children,-three sons and five daughters. After the decease of this lady, beloved and respected by all, the judge contracted a second marriage with Miss Statira Barclay, a cousin of his former wife, by whom he had two children,-a son and a daughter.

Judge Young in Westmoreland County soon be- came known as a man of force and discretion. He was chosen in 1791, with Nehemiah Stokely, a sur- vivor of the Revolutionary period, as a delegate to the first meeting at Pittsburgh called to consider the troubles occasioned by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1791, which imposed a duty upon spirits dis- tilled within the United States. The revolt against the "excise act," as it was called, has been known. ever since as the "Whiskey Insurrection."

Judge Young's participation in the negotiations between the contesting parties added largely to his popularity and materially increased his clientage.

In the years 1792 and 1793, when the Indians were troublesome in the western parts of Pennsylvania, Judge Young served two terms of two months each in a military capacity. He was in some subordinate command, a captaincy it is believed, but not now positively known. He had, however, no passion for military pursuits, and soon and gladly returned to the more congenial walks of civil life in Greensburg.

Judge Young continued the practice of the law with eminent success till the year 1805. In that year a va- cancy occurred in the president-judgeship of the Tenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, then composed of the counties of Somerset, Cambria, Indiana, Arm- strong, and Westmoreland. At that period Thomas Mckean was Governor of the State. There were many applicants for the office, and among them lawyers of the first eminence at the Greensburg bar. Letters of solicitation were forwarded by the friends of Mr. Young, and it was currently reported that the Gov- ernor said he would appoint him, because he knew

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him to be qualified by his firmnews, integrity, and great legal acquirements to preside over that talented though turbulent bar, but he did not like his religion !

Mr. Young was in fact appointed president judge of said district, his commission bearing date at Lan- caster, the 1st of March, 1806, and held that office until the latter part of 1887, a period of thirty-one years, when, admonished by bodily infirmities, he resigned official station, and retired to private life to enjoy the repose appropriate to advanced age, and sweetened by the retrospections of a long and success- ful career of distinguished activity and usefulness.

When Mr. Young was appointed judge he was re- ·· alizing from his legal engagements and his agencies an annual income of about five thousand dollars. This income he was reluctant to relinquish, and ac- cepted the judgeship only on the earnest solicitations of his friends. He was generally employed in all the larger cases in the civil courts of this and the adjoin- ing counties where titles to land were the subjects of legal adjudication. His proficiency in this branch of the law and his habits as a lawyer were notably displayed in one celebrated case. When the right to the land upon which the Roman Catholic Church and Monastery near Beatty Station now stands was in dispute between the secular and the regular clergy, Mr. Young was employed on one side, and H. H. Brackenridge, Esq., the father of Judge H. M. Brack- enridge, of Tarentum, and himself afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, was employed on the other. Brackenridge had been educated for the ministry, and on the trial there was a great display of ecclesiastical law and learning. The bulls of Popes and the decrees of Councils were read in the orig- inal Latin, and explained in this case with ease and accuracy, and the exact extent to which canon law was acknowledged by the common and statute law.

Judge Young was at this time considered the best special pleader at the Western bar. His anxiety to sustain this nice though intricate practice in law brought him into collision with some of the members of the bar at an early day of his judicial career, which was one of the causes of an impeachment that was then gotten up against him, but which was not sustained by the Legislature. It was an abortive attempt to degrade a man whose integrity, benev- olence, and general excellence of character wrung approving testimony from even his most active polit- ical opponents.

The person who preferred the charges in the articles of impeachment, and who was mainly instrumental in giving them currency and in preparing the way for their introduction, was one of the leading lawyers of the Westmoreland bar, Maj. John R. Alexander.

Judge Young showed his magnanimity of character in his courteous treatment of his accuser in their in- tercourse after the failure to impeach. As a judge he was noted for the clearness of his charges and in- structions. His exposition of the law was so sound

that in nearly all his cases his decisione were affirmed by the Supreme Court.

As a criminal judge, he invariably leaned to the side of mercy, and that the prisoner might have a fair and impartial trial he always manifested the utmost patience and anxiety to have the very words of the witness, which oftentimes produced collisions between him and the bar. And in all cases he tempered jus- tice with every allowable lenience. He has been known to decide causes against persons who after- wards treated him with gross disrespect, and yet, when his decision had been affirmed in the Supreme Court on writ of error, to advance moneys to the very individuals who had showered upon him indecent re- proaches and abuse to relieve them from the difi- culties occasioned by the decision. He was ever the warm friend and devoted advocate of women in distress, and especially of widows and orphans. A case occurred in Cambria County in the year 1881. A man by the name of Fitzgibbons, a Catholic in re- ligion, poor, but honest and industrious, had bought a piece of land and paid for it. But afterwards it ap- peared that a mortgage had been recorded against the land, of which he was not aware when he made the purchase. On that mortgage the land was advertised to be sold. The judge, when going into court one day, had his attention arrested by a woman crying, with two or three young children about her. He in- quired the cause, and learning from her that her hus- band's land was to be sold on the mortgage, besides making himself acquainted with the facts in other quarters, he directed a Mr. McCabe to buy it in his own name with money which he advanced to him. Her husband, who was then lying at home sick, was told to meet him at the next court, at which time he gave him a lease at a low rate, and contracted to re- convey to him his land for the amount he gave the sheriff at the sale, on long payments, without interest, although he had been repeatedly offered a considerable advance on what he had paid for the land, on account of its value being increased by the proximity of the State improvements to it.

Judge Young survived his resignation a little over three years, dying Oct. 6, 1840. His remains were buried in the Greensburg burying-ground, which is now called the St. Clair Cemetery. Judge Young was in many respects a remarkable man, and might be called eccentric in some of his habits, an evidence, however, of his originality. He was a man of deep and varied learning in fields outside of his profession. He was master of seven languages, one of which he acquired after he was seventy years of age.

He was well versed in mathematics, moral and polit- ical philosophy, and polite literature. He was a bril- liant Latin scholar, speaking the language fluently. He occasionally visited the Greensburg Academy when Thomas Will was the master, and the two learned men would frequently converse in the Latin tongue. He also spoke French with fluency. When

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James Johns, who had been educated at St. Omers, in France, was preceptor in the academy, Judge Young frequently visited him, and the two conversed with equal readiness in French and English. When Victor Noel, a Frenchman, was arrested and im- prisoned in the Somerset County jail for the murder on the Allegheny Mountains of Mr. Pollock of Lig- onier Valley, Judge Young presided at the trial, be- cause his knowledge of the French language would secure the prisoner a fair trial. He explained the in- dictment and other forms of the trial to the prisoner in French, who had the satisfaction to be sentenced to be hanged in the polished language of his native land. Judge Young was remarkably well informed on church history and denominational beliefs, and with the best thought in the metaphysical world. In addition to his extensive law library, he left a large collection of miscellaneous books, magazines, and pamphlets, the best kind of evidence of scholarly tastes.

The religious opinions of Judge Young were in consonance with the teachings of that wonderful man, Emanuel Swedenborg. In common with many who have studied the teachings of Swedenborg, he saw in him a great teacher. When one reads what Emerson, one of the greatest philosophers of this age, has said of him, it will not be surprising why Judge Young, with his lofty ideal of justice and right living, embraced the tenets of the great Swede. Emerson says, "By force of intellect and in effect he is the last father in the church, and is not likely to have a successor. No wonder that his depth of ethical wisdom should give him influence as a teacher. To the withered tradi- tional church yielding dry catechisms he let in nature again, and the worshiper, escaping from the vestry of verbs and texts, is surprised to find himself a party to the whole of his religion. His religion thinks for him and is of universal application. He turns it on every side, it fits every part of life, interprets and dignifies every circumstance. . . . The moral insight of Swedenborg, the correction of popular errors, the announcement of ethical laws take him out of com- parison with any other modern writer, and entitle him to a place vacant for some ages among the law- givers of mankind."

Judge Young, though he became devotedly attached to his adopted country, still retained a strong affec- tion for the mother-country. The Albion, a handsome paper published in New York, was edited by a man named John Young, and it was intended to defend the interests and express the sentiments of British subjects resident in the United States. Its heading was adorned with a handsome engraving of the " rose, shamrock, and thistle," and its motto was expressed in the following Latin words : "Colum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt" ("They change their sky, not their affections, who cross the sea"). Of this paper Judge Young was a patron, admirer, and reader:

By the failure of heirs in the direct line to the estate of Easter Culmore, in the county of Stirling, Scotland, Judge Young became Laird of Forrester, being next of kin in collateral degree. He was thus an American judge and Scottish laird at the same time.

A romantic interest is attached to the story of this inheritance, uniting as it does in the same individual the republican simplicity of a new world and the an- cestral pride of the old, which compelled him to as- sume the name of Forrester in addition to that of Young.

The revenues of this Scotch estate amounted dur- ing the first half of the century to about three hun- dred pounds sterling, or fifteen hundred dollars yearly. When Judge Young emigrated to this country money was very scarce and lands very cheap. He made ju- dicious investments, accepting land for fees, and in the course of a long life acquired a large amount of landed property in this country, besides holding stock in a number,of corporations. His children were left wealthy.

The residence of Judge Young was on Main Street, opposite the present Methodist church building. It was a plain, unpretentious structure, weather-boarded and painted white. He dispensed a liberal hospitality; as a host was fond of entertaining company, and was especially partial to the society of learned men and travelers. His character and disposition were of the most amiable kind. His kindness to the poor and destitute was proverbial. During a time of great scarcity he sent a wagon-load of flour to the poor in one of the counties in which he presided as judge. He never permitted a poor man to leave his house ' without giving him something. He silenced all sug- gestions that he might possibly be giving to unworthy objects by fearing lest some one who was really needy might be turned away unaided. In short, so benevo- lent and kind-hearted was the judge to all who came. within his sphere that all who knew him loved him, and so marked was he by integrity, truth, and upright- ness that all respected him, despite of what many re- ' garded as the eccentricities of his character and the errors of his religion. So, in closing an obituary notice of him in a Greensburg newspaper a neighbor of his said, "The affluence with which providence blessed the labors of Judge Young enabled him to gratify those kindly feelings for the wants of others which it was well known formed a prominent trait in . his character. No one ever went from his door who sought charity without having reason to invoke the blessings of heaven upon the kindness of his heart. No juror ever sat in judgment upon a culprit without, being reminded by the judge that it was better to let ninety-nine guilty ones go unpunished than that one innocent person should suffer. He was as remarkable for his politeness and courtesy as he was distinguished for the extent of his literary acquirements. Profound as a jurist, courteous as a citizen, affectionate as a

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father, upright as a judge, he discharged all those duties to his kindred, his country, and society, which will make him long remembered as a Christian, a philanthropist, and a patriot."

For the last few months that immediately preceded the close of his life on earth, he gave evident tokens that these qualities of his heart and life had eminently fitted him to die the death of the Christian.

Judge Young was at one time the owner of several slaves, but freed them before the time required by law. With their liberty he gave them also enough of money to start them in the world.

Judge H. M. Brackenridge, in his " Recollections," in recalling the days when he opened an office in Somerset, says that he spent a week in Greensburg at Judge Young's. " Here I enjoyed the society of the judge, and of my friend, Walter Forward, and the kind attentions of the best of women, Mrs. Young."

The sweet little villa, "Skara Glen," as the country residence of the judge was called, became the subject of one of the elder Brackenridge's poetic effusions. "Skara Gler." is Low in the possession of his grand- son, Frank Y. Clopper, Esq.

Judge Young was about six feet in height, of deli- cate mould, and of a dignified bearing, stooping slightly in his walk, occasioned by his contemplative habits. He usually dressed in plain black, with the conventional swallow-tailed coat and ruffled shirt worn by the English gentry of his time. He re- tained the fashion of wearing his hair in a cue. His face was well formed, the nose long and straight, his color "the pale cast of thought," and his ex- pression always grave and thoughtful. His forehead was high and smooth, and his manner cool and im- pressive. Although he would sometimes unbend to smile, yet he was seldom known to laugh outright. In company he was very quiet-was a good listener rather than a fluent talker.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 75

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: